Not a sequel to 1962's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, but an obvious attempt to duplicate Baby Jane's success with Davis once again playing a character haunted by the past until the last scene reveals the truth. Despite a classy production, a plot lifted from Gaslight and Diabolique and 7 Academy Award nominations, Hush...Hush comes closer to Strait Jacket(63)than to Baby Jane. Davis and Moorehead are shameless, Davis' non-stop screeching becomes annoying, and Aldrich's direction drags out the cumbersome plot. Victor Buono, Mary Astor and a perfectly cast Olivia DeHaviland, provide some compensation, but couldn't someone have taken a cleaver to Cecil Kellaway? Davis' fans will be pleased though I prefer The Nanny 1965, The Anniversary 1968 and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Revisited this film on a DVD recently. This film was director Robert Aldrich's follow-up to his previous hit What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. So of course the expectations were high. The film is about Charlotte (Bette Davis) who lives with her maid (Agnes Moorehead) in a decaying southern mansion, shunned by the townsfolk after the mysterious murder of her late lover some 37 years earlier. She is acquitted due to lack of evidence. When she is threatened that her house will b demolished, she is reluctant to vacate n calls her cousin for help. This is when the past starts haunting her. The direction and settings are perfect and the story features some terrific twists and turns. The atmosphere is brooding n tense n the acting is splendid by Bette Davis but it was Agnes Moorehead who was terrific. Her acting, specially her mannerisms were so perfect like that of a maid. Found the movie creepy n scary when i first saw this as a kid.

Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte is directed by Robert Aldrich and written by Henry Farrell and Lukas Heller. It stars Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway and Mary Astor. Music is by Frank De Vol and cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc.It's 1927, the Louisiana plantation home of Sam Hollis (Victor Buono), and Charlotte Hollis (Davis) is having an affair with a married man, John Mayhew (Bruce Dern). After a heated argument between Sam and John, John is brutally slain by an unseen assailant, only Charlotte appears on the scene covered in blood. Then it's the present day and just Charlotte and her house keeper, Velma (Moorehead), live at the Hollis mansion, Sam having passed away many years ago. Charlotte is mentally scarred from the echoes of the past, she's a recluse and seen by the townsfolk as the local mental case. As developers try to plough a road through the Hollis home, Charlotte sends for her cousin Miriam (Havilland), but then strange things start happening and Charlotte might once and for all tip over the edge.A bit long at 2 hours 13 minutes and a bit too bonkers at times, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte still comes out as glorious Guignol entertainment. The setting is perfect, a Baton Rouge locale of whispering trees and ominous foliage, the Hollis mansion a place of dark secrets, shadowy halls and mental disintegration. Biroc's black and white photography seems to revel in the misery and emotional turmoil that blows about the place, and the brilliant Aldrich unleashes delirious turns from Davis and Moorehead as the others play perfectly restrained foil. There's a strong mystery element driving the plot forward, because what we think is true may not actually be the case? The narrative deftly reveals back stories as film progresses, hints at means and motives dangle tantalisingly in the Gothic tinged air, and then the finale doesn't disappoint, it has some surprises in store and closes the picture down handsomely.Best served with a good helping of Sour Mash, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte is Southern Gothicana with bells on. Or should that be Belles? 8/10

Directed by Robert Aldrich, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte" finds the inimitable Bette Davis stuck in a silly Southern Gothic plot. She plays Charlotte Hollis, a hysterical woman who refuses to leave her dilapidated mansion in Louisiana. The film was written by Lukas Heller, who scripted "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", a better Bette Davis flick.At the heart of "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte" is the mysterious death of Charlotte's lover. Charlotte is accused of this crime, but local law enforcement can't prove her guilt. This leads to decades of isolation, and Charlotte's slow crawl into insanity. The film co-stars Agnes Moorehead, who steals the show as Charlote's protective servant. Joan Crawford was originally expected to star in the film, but dropped out.Incidenally, Aldrich directed a number of bizarre, bombastic "women's pictures" late in his career, most notably "Autumn Leaves", "The Legend of Lylah Clare", "The Killing of Sister George" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?".4/10 – Worth no viewings.